Aviva Premiership Round 6

Sorry folks, this is nowhere near the standard that LondonTiger produces for these things, but he appears to have done a runner, and I thought people may like a thread for the matches, so here they are.
 
Bath Rugby (4th) vs. Gloucester (10th)

Exeter Chiefs (6th) vs. Worcester Warriors (12th)

Harlequins (7th) vs. Sale Sharks (5th)

Northampton Saints (2nd) vs. Saracens (1st)

London Wasps (11th) vs. Leicester Tigers (3rd)

Newcastle Falcons (9th) vs. London Irish (8th)
 
For what it's worth (very little I know) I see wins for Bath, Exeter, Sale, Saints, Wasps and Irish, with nobody picking up a try bonus point, and all losing sides other than Worcester getting the LBP.

Sorry but how do you see a win fir Sale Ozzy??

I expect Quins by 5

Sadly LT and Thunor are casualties of this whole European club cup rugby fallout and are much missed for their valued opinions.

It's funny how after a diet of a couple of European games, I always seem to struggle to get back into AP mode - oh well. Having consulted my crystal ball and this morning's tea leaves from my first of the morning cuppa, I foresee the following:
* Bath vs Glaws - home win, no TBP, no LBP
* Chiefs vs Wuss - home win, TBP, no LBP
* Quins vs Sharks - home win, no TBP, poss LBP
* Saints vs Sarries - home win, no TBP, defo LBP
* Wasps vs Tiggers - away win, no TBP, defo LBP
* Falcons vs Irish - home win, no TBP, poss LBP

Thunors gone as well?!

What the Poopie happened on those threads??

Oh and I agree about the Prem comedown, it really isn't the same!

yappysnap wrote:Sorry but how do you see a win fir Sale Ozzy??

I expect Quins by 5

Whilst you produced a good performance out in France, I still think you are misfiring, and will miss the likes Robshaw and Marler in your back, as well as the go forward that Mike Brown gives you. I just can't see you putting Sale on the back foot enough to beat them. I think they come to you with confidence and playing well, and not missing any players.

6 home wins makes logical sense but I think Quins for example are vulnerable and will miss Marler,Brown and Robshaw. Whereas Sale have no absentees and will be full of confidence.

Such a shame the Saints vs Sarries game is not going to involve the England guys. Saints are boosted with the return of Foden and Burrell though. Sarries are a bit short of options at 10, loosehead prop and in the centres. Areas I expect Saints to target.

Not sure who is affected more. No Farrell is a big loss for Sarries but this is counterbalanced by the loss of 4 key players in the Saints pack.

Sarries backrow strength in depth is excellent so despite no Fraser or Billy it's still strong.

No Mako and Gill leaves Saracens vulnerable at loosehead potentially - I expect Stevens to deputise in this area.

Losing the in form Dickson is not a big deal for Saints as they have Fotauli.

Apparently I'm the only person who's looking forward to seeing his play this weekend more than last weekend. Treviso didn't turn up with any intent to play and with the conditions it led to a dire game.

This weekend against the Pests we will see the return of Ayerza, the debut of Matera and a first start for Hempetema and Williams. Should be an interesting game.

Probable Tigers team:

Ayerza, Briggs, Mulipola
Deacon, Kitchener
Matera, Waldrom, Salvi
Mele, Williams
Bowden, Hempetema
Scully, Morris, Thompstone

Bench - Stanko, Chuter, Balmain, Slater, Gibson, Crane, Harrison, Benjamin.

Sam it's incredible how different that Tigers side looks to just two years ago.

Didn't realise Chuter still played for you! Thought he would have retired by now.

It's sad to see Tigers play so many foreigners instead of players from your academy. I know you'll probably say pot calling the kettle black but Tigers seem to have less academy prospects than they used to. You've been incredible in that regard.

I know most of the guys from your academy are playing for England but I don't see too many new Tiger youngsters.

Has the mighty Tigers academy conveyor belt of talent hit a road bump?

I expect Irish to line up..

Yapp Paice Hagan
Skivington Gough
Cowan Hala'ufia Treviranus
O'Leary Geraghty
Sheridan Armitage
Lewington Ojo Tagicakibau

I'm not overly confident but I wouldn't be surprised if we nicked a win at Falcons. We're on decent form and if the conditions are OK it could favour us. Rain and wind will favour Falcons.

The only difference I would go for would be Halavatau starting at tighthead Nick. Liking the power in that pack though.

stnick88 no O Connor then? 

Btw Sam my last post is not meant to be a WUM. I am genuinely concerned as an England fan and someone who does have a lot of respect for Tigers even though this sometimes seem the case.

Arrives Monday beshocked, despite Saracens best attempts at intervention (what Salary Cap officer?!?!)!  

beshocked i did say on the other thread his debut would be next week v Northampton!

Beshocked we have some good young talent but the prospects are either established or stuck behind fit players. For instance Price, Wells and Cain are all bright prospects but are mainly locks (Wells also plays 6) and we are well covered in that regard and with the academy league kicking off at the weekend, Notts playing at the weekend and an A League game on Monday our academy will be mainly used in those games.

We are missing a good portion of home grown talent through England call ups and injury in Youngs x 2, Cole, Croft, Manu and Smith.

Having said that I would be happier if we were to see Purdy come onto the bench and young Thacker over Chuter on the bench I'd be happier but we keep and experienced squad to cover for times like this. By the way Chuter is on a one year deal to cover whilst our young hookers develop. Hawkins is injured at the moment so Chutes will cover.

Ozzy3123 I knew he wasn't coming to Sarries.

Partly surprised it's you guys picked him up but then again I am not. You probably have room in the cap plus he'll get to work with your pretty good backline.

stnick88 that's good. though surprised he is going to go straight into your team.

Sam oh right. You're best prospects are locks. That's unfortunate. I only mention it because it seems like an awful lot of foreigners in that starting XV plus the lack of young Englishman getting gametime. Something that I want to see all English teams to do. I think all sides could and should do more.

In my own team I want to see more of the likes of George,Spencer,Wray and Ransom.

I understand retaining Chuter but it does hamper potential development.

It's the whole balance between developing players and winning matches I suppose.

Foreigners are less costly than losing English prospects to England or to other teams.

E.g. you developed 36 and Ford and have lost both to rival teams. Wasps developed Billy and lost him to Sarries etc.

Harlequins team to play Sale SharksHarlequins have announced the team to play Sale Sharks tomorrow in Round 6 of the Aviva Premiership at The Stoop, kick-off 3:00pm.There are six changes to the team that played Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup last Sunday.

With Mike Brown, Joe Marler and Chris Robshaw being retained by the England squad, Tom Williams is named at full-back. Sam Smith starts on the left wing with Ugo Monye, who has recovered from a knock sustained against London Irish, starting on the right wing.

Karl Dickson comes in at scrum-half, with Danny Care, who was released back to the club by England, ready to make an impact from the bench. The fly-half and centre partnership remain unchanged.

Mark Lambert and Dave Ward make their first starts of the season, joining Will Collier in the front row.

In an unchanged second-row, Nick Easter is named as captain. Luke Wallace switches to openside flanker as Joe Trayfoot and Tom Guest complete the pack.

Rob Buchanan is unavailable for selection due to a ruptured pectoral muscle sustained against Clermont Auvergne; the hooker will have surgery and is expected to return at the end of January. The club will also provide an injury update on centre, George Lowe next week following advice from a specialist.

Harlequins Team

15. Tom Williams
14. Ugo Monye
13. Matt Hopper
12. Ben Botica
11. Sam Smith
10. Nick Evans
9. Karl Dickson

1. Mark Lambert
2. Dave Ward
3. Will Collier
4. Nick Easter (C)
5. George Robson
6. Joe Trayfoot
7. Luke Wallace
8. Tom Guest

16. Harry Allen
17. Darryl Marfo
18. Kyle Sinckler
19. George Merrick
20. Jack Clifford
21. Danny Care
22. Paul Sackey
23. Charlie Walker

Chris Hala’ufia returns to the London Irish back row for Sunday’s Aviva Premiership match against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park (kick-off 3pm).
John Yapp, David Paice and Leo Halavatau will start in the front row with captain, George Skivington and Ian Gough in the second row. Hala’ufia will play alongside Samoa International Ofisa Treviranus and Blair Cowan, who was recently called into the Scotland training squad for the Autumn Internationals.

Tomás O’Leary and Ian Humphreys are named in the halves with Eamonn Sheridan and Fergus Mulchrone forming the centre partnership. Alex Lewington, Sailosi Tagicakibau and Topsy Ojo make up the back three.

Brian Smith, Exiles Director of Rugby said: “We’ve had a good couple of weeks in Europe and have prepared well this week for a challenging trip to Newcastle. Dean and John Wells have assembled a strong squad and will be very tough in their own back yard. We are looking forward to the contest.”

London Irish team to face Newcastle Falcons:

15. Topsy Ojo*; 14. Alex Lewington; 13.Fergus Mulchrone; 12. Eamonn Sheridan; 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau*; 10. Ian Humphreys; 9. Tomás O’Leary*; 1. John Yapp*; 2. David Paice*; 3. Leo Halavatau; 4. George Skivington (Captain); 5. Ian Gough*; 6. Blair Cowan; 7. Ofisa Treviranus*; 8. Chris Hala’ufia*

Replacements: 16. Mike Mayhew; 17 Matt Parr; 18. Jamie Hagan*; 19.Bryn Evans*; 20. Jebb Sinclair*; 21. Guy Armitage; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Darren Allinson

*Denotes International

Lowe, Casson and the locks still not back. Would have liked to see Walker start but I suppose he's covering the centres as well. As raw a pack bench as we could really see, but excited to see Clifford on the team sheet. We are really down to our bare bones now as a squad and still the only return from injury is Ugo

Leicester team
Leicester Tigers (v London Wasps, Adams Park, Sunday 2pm)
15 Niall Morris
14 Blaine Scully
13 Terrence Hepetema
12 Dan Bowden
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Owen Williams
9 David Mélé
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Neil Briggs
3 Logovi'i Mulipola
4 Louis Deacon (c)
5 Ed Slater
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Sebastian de Chaves
20 Jordan Crane
21 Pablo Matera
22 Miles Benjamin
23 Sam Harrison

Beshocked, seven of that starting team (Briggs, Deacon, Kitchener, Waldrom, Bowden, Hempetema and Thompstone) and the entire bench are eligible to play for England. Crane and Slater being rotated to the bench to rest and with Allen, Tait and Smith missing through injury ordinarily we'd have more EQ starters.

Starting XV vs Northampton Saints
15. Alex Goode; 14. Michael Tagicakibau, 13. Chris Wyles, 12. Duncan Taylor, 11. David Strettle; 10. Nils Mordt, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Richard Barrington, 2. Schalk Brits, 3. Matt Stevens, 4. Steve Borthwick (c), 5. Alastair Hargreaves, 6. Kelly Brown, 7. Jacques Burger, 8. Ernst Joubert
Replacements;
16. Jamie George, 17. Nick Auterac, 18. James Johnston, 19. Mourtiz Botha, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Neil de Kock, 22. Marcelo Bosch, 23. Ben Ransom


3 obvious places to target Sarries - loosehead prop,fly half and centres.

Still a good looking bench. Very strong 2nd row and backrow.


NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY SARACENS
Aviva Premiership Round 6
Franklin’s Gardens
Saturday, October 26th, 2013
Kick off 3:15pm
15 Ben FODEN
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Kahn FOTUALI’I
1 Alex WALLER
2 Mike HAYWOOD
3 Salesi MA’AFU
4 Samu MANOA
5 Christian DAY
6 Calum CLARK
7 Phil DOWSON (capt)
8 Sam DICKINSON

Replacements
16 Ross MCMILLAN
17 Ethan WALLER
18 Gareth DENMAN
19 GJ VAN VELZE
20 Ben NUTLEY
21 Ryan GLYNN
22 Dom WALDOUCK
23 James WILSON


No Hartley,Wood and Lawes could potentially mean the Saints lineout might be under pressure. North is a huge miss also. Bench doesn't look as strong as the Sarries one in my opinion.

not saying he will start beshocked, just be in the matchday squad.

No point having someone of JOC's quality on a short term deal and not playing them. Despite his booze issues he's a quality player.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Beshocked, seven of that starting team (Briggs, Deacon, Kitchener, Waldrom, Bowden, Hempetema and Thompstone) and the entire bench are eligible to play for England. Crane and Slater being rotated to the bench to rest and with Allen, Tait and Smith missing through injury ordinarily we'd have more EQ starters.

Due to my sons, I am now see quite a lot of Leicester matches - while not being up to speed with the academy so unable to comment there, it does seem as if there are a lot of injurioes/absent players. That should never be an excuse for losing but could in part explain the apparent shortage og EQP?

From Leicester website:

Vereniki Goneva is sidelined after pulling a calf muscle in last week's win over Benetton Treviso and Graham Kitchener is also ruled out this week.

Also unavailable due to injury are Anthony Allen, Gonzalo Camacho, Tom Croft, Scott Hamilton, Rob Hawkins, Ryan Lamb, Steve Mafi, Matt Smith, Scott Steele, Mathew Tait and Manu Tuilagi.

Dan Cole, Toby Flood, Geoff Parling, and Ben and Tom Youngs are retained by the England squad.

While a lot of those are squad players - that is still by my count 18 payers out including 5 B&I Lions. 13 of those ruled out are EQP while 7 are former academy players.

I do agree though it seems odd to see quite so many foreign players in a Leicester team.

Sam don't think Matera is EQ

broadlandboy wrote:Sam don't think Matera is EQ

I thought he was one of the North Walsham Materas?

vietgwentrevisited my point is a complete contrast to what has happened at Leicester in the past.

I understand why Leicester have done it but find it a shame they see the need to sign more foreigners in an attempt to compete with fellow rivals Saints and Sarries.

As I said I can't really talk as my own side have quite a few foreigners but that's been the case for some time.

That's not far off a first choice side for us, obviously notwithstanding the imminent arrival of James O'Connor. I am pretty confident that we can go up to Kingston Park and win this one.

Viet,Believe he holds a German passport so not considered a"foriegn"player but dont know of the North walsham conection.
How do you know about North Walsham?

broadlandboy wrote:Viet,Believe he holds a German passport so not considered a"foriegn"player but dont know of the North walsham conection.
How do you know about North Walsham?

Sorry was made up as a joke, North Walsham chosen because my youngest grandson attended a Tigers Training week there. He is now playing for one of the Cambridgshire age group teams, and has had some training sessions with Craig Newby. As he is a back rower he found this extremely instructive.

No need to apologise,its a great club

yappysnap wrote:Oh and I agree about the Prem comedown, it really isn't the same!

Hey! For some of us it's a step up from the last 2 weeks!

Home wins apart from Leicester and Sarries for me, I think Saints vs Sarries could go either way but after that close defeat to Toulouse there may be some points to prove.

From a biased Bath perspective, the team is a strong as can be with injuries etc and the pack looks huge. I hope this means we can get on top of Glaws up front and not allow the likes of May in the backs any decent ball to work with. Allez Bath!

Frankly Sale should beat us, 5 first choice players playing, 3 in the correct position, 2nd choice front row with 3rd choice hooker, a number 8 at lock, a rookie at 6, no captain, small pack, Care rested on bench presumably on England orders, a FH at 12 and 2nd choice small 13, winger at fullback and an all academy forwards bench and another academy player plus Sackey for the backs. If we can beat sale with this team I'll start to believe things are back up

Broadlandboy, I didn't say Matera was EQ. When I said the bench was all EQ I was refering to my predicted team and hadn't seen the team announcement.

Tigers have always embraced a degree of foreign influence and given that England are likely to call up five or six of the first team we need affordable backup and that is more easily sourced from abroad. It's worth noting a fully fit Tigers starting 15 would only include 3 foreign players (Ayerza, Salvi and Morris with probably Goneva just missing out). Seems our injuries are mainly to our EQ contingent in Smith, Allen, Tait, Croft, Kitchener etc.

Sorry just that your post came after team had been posted so thought you were replying to it

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE WORCESTER WARRIORS

15 Phil Dollman
14 Fetu’u Vainikolo
13 Jason Shoemark
12 Sam Hill
11 Matt Jess
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Dave Lewis
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Jack Yeandle
3 Hoani Tui
4 Dean Mumm (capt)
5 Damian Welch
6 Tom Johnson
7 Ben White
8 Dave Ewers

16 Chris Whitehead
17 Ben Moon
18 Alex Brown
19 Don Armand
20 Kai Horstmann
21 Haydn Thomas
22 Henry Slade
23 Tom James

No real surprises - thought they might have rested Steeno for personal reasons for this one, and might have picked Naqelevuki for some go forward in the backs in case the weather is miserable

:chiefs:

Wuss

15 Chris Pennell
14 Dean Hammond
13 Alex Grove
12 Josh Matavesi
11 David Lemi
10 Ignacio Mieres
9 Jonny Arr

1 Ofa Fainga'anuku
2 Agustin Creevy
3 Euan Murray
4 Dean Schofield
5 Mariano Galarza
6 Richard de Carpentier
7 Jake Abbott
8 Jonathan Thomas (c)

Replacements
16 Chris Brooker
17 Jeremy Becasseau
18 Rob O'Donnell
19 Mike Williams
20 Chris Jones
21 Jeremy Su'u
22 Paul Warwick
23 Ben Howard

16 players of leicester not in the squad. too much !!! win wasps !!

I see Leicester are in a similar situation to ourselves

Quins will get smashed. They are sh1t

Hubert Davenport wrote:Quins will get smashed. They are sh1t

Well that's not a very positive post for someone only 12 posts into their posting career - how about a brief return to posting school for you?

ChequeredJersey wrote:I see Leicester are in a similar situation to ourselves

Really? What situation is that?

Don't worry Asbo, Hubert is aglass half empty kind of guy (Pimms obviously!), apparently according to him Irish are a cr@p club as well.

Ah, this message looks familiar. In this case, our team is fairly weak, but we'll see what happens. The situation I was talking about was only having 5 first team starters

Ozzy3213 wrote:Don't worry Asbo, Hubert is aglass half empty kind of guy (Pimms obviously!), apparently according to him Irish are a cr@p club as well.

Not sure he even has a glass?

No worries Broadlandboy, yours was the logical conclusion to draw.

Tigers are missing a lot of first teamers but the team we have out still has enough quality to ensure at least a LBP away at Wasps we have 5 capped players starting still.

I don't like these weekends when we have Premiership Rugby but players are away for the Internationals. Weakens some teams, equalises for others, and makes other teams hard to read.

For my Saints, they are still putting out a decent team. Bad news is we are playing Sarries who are also putting out a decent team.

doctor_grey wrote:I don't like these weekends when we have Premiership Rugby but players are away for the Internationals.  Weakens some teams, equalises for others, and makes other teams hard to read.  

For my Saints, they are still putting out a decent team.  Bad news is we are playing Sarries who are also putting out a decent team.  

Agreed, but I guess that we would say that as we have one of the smaller squads in the Jeff. Can't pick a winner of Saints Sarries, pretty even through the teams with maybe Saints having the slightly stronger half backs but Saracens having the more inform backrow (been very impressed with the form of Berger and Joubert so far this season). Worried for Saints at lineout time - Lawes & Wood are the go to men on own throw, going to be added pressure on Heywood.

Some good games this week, hoping to catch live or delayed the Bath, Saints & Wasps games.